Frasier Season 2 Makes A Huge Change To Dan Butler’s Bob ‘Bulldog’ Briscoe

This article contains spoilers for “Frasier” season 2.

The “Frasier” revival might be struggling without the involvement of the original cast, but it has brought back plenty of fan-favorite characters to satiate fans of the ’90s sitcom. The most notable example is Peri Gilpin’s Roz Doyle, who appeared in the “Frasier” revival’s season 1 finale — an episode that actually stacked up quite well against Christmas episodes from the original series. But we’ve also seen Frasier’s ex-wife Lilith Sternin show up, alongside the return of one of the best recurring characters from the OG “Frasier,” Harriet Sansom Harris’ machiavellian agent Bebe Glazer.

Now, with episode 8 of the revival’s second season, Frasier has returned to Seattle, the city that hosted him for all 11 seasons of the original run of the show. Unfortunately, the episode, entitled, “Thank You, Dr. Crane,” does not include the long-awaited return of David Hyde Pierce’s Niles, but it does bring back yet more fan-favorite characters as a result of Frasier visiting his old radio station, KACL. Waiting for him at the station are KACL’s food critic Gil Chesterton (Edward Hibbert) and Dan Butler’s beloved lively sports show host Bob “Bulldog” Briscoe.

First appearing in season 1, episode 2, “Space Quest,” Bulldog immediately established himself as a thorn in Frasier’s side, interrupting the doctor’s reading by barreling into his studio with his signature whistle and gong and commandeering the room to present the Gonzo Sports Show. As the series progressed, Bulldog maintained his brash and boorish demeanor, frequently rubbing Frasier up the wrong way and providing a crass foil to the doctor’s general stuffiness. But Bulldog and the Doctor also grew closer throughout 11 seasons, and by the time “Frasier” wrapped up in 2004, the Gonzo Sports Show host had become one of the most beloved supporting characters on the series.

All of which makes his return a pretty big deal for any “Frasier” fan — especially since the writers of the revival series have made a major change to Bulldog’s character.

Aside from his over-the-top machismo, Bulldog was also known for being a womanizer whose misogynistic tendencies would basically make his character a no-go in the modern-day “Frasier” revival. Throughout the original series, the character casually dates and discards women with indifference, all the while maintaining a crush on Roz. At one point, he and Frasier’s producer even got together, though the romance didn’t last. 

The best part of Bulldog’s womanizing was, however, the fact that Dan Butler himself had come out in his early 20s, and was, as Oasis magazine put it in their 1998 interview with Butler, “openly gay.” Speaking about the contrast between his best-known character and his real-life persona, the actor told the magazine at the time, “Sometimes I go to gay events and they’re surprised I’m gay, but I was always out.”

At the time the Bulldog character debuted on “Frasier,” Butler — who got his start on a beloved show ’80s show — was actually performing a one-man show about coming out, making his portrayal of the womanizing jock a sort of in-joke for those in the know. Now, however, the revival series has rewritten “Frasier” history by revealing that Bulldog the character was actually gay the whole time.

In “Thank You, Dr. Crane,” Frasier returns to the very studio from which he gave advice to Seattle residents some 20 years prior. Waiting for him in the room are Gil Chesterton, Peri Gilpin’s Roz Doyle, and Bulldog himself, dressed in a red shirt that recalls the same crimson sweater the character wore during his first appearance in “Space Quest.” The crew welcomes the doctor back with a hastily-recycled birthday banner and after the doctor hugs his former coworkers, Roz tells him that “someone finally came out of the closet,” prompting the doctor to turn his attention to Gil, who he clearly suspected of being gay throughout his time at KACL. But after Bulldog lets out a couple of barks, Frasier is shocked to learn that Roz is talking about the sports radio host.

After finding out about Bulldog’s coming out, Dr. Crane asks his former coworker, “All those years, you were overcompensating with that toxic, frat boy masculinity?” to which Bulldog replies, “No I still got that, I’m just into dudes now.” While it’s a bold move on the part of the writers to bring Bulldog’s character in line with Dan Butler’s own, it makes sense for a show that has to reckon with what were some admittedly questionable jokes from the original series — and not just in terms of Bulldog’s misogyny. The character could be seen during the first season reading a commercial for a Chinese restaurant that, let’s just say, would be grounds for full-on cancellation were it to form part of the revival series. Making Bulldog himself gay signals an attempt to update the character for 2024, which would have been an interesting route to go had the storyline gone any further than Frasier’s brief interaction with Bulldog.

For whatever reason, “Thank You, Dr. Crane” spends much of its runtime following Frasier as he reconnects with a former caller, rather than focusing on any of the returning characters or exploring Bulldog’s revelation any further. That seems odd for an episode that is surely one of the most anticipated among fans, not to mention the fact that Bulldog was one of the “Frasier” guest stars we most wanted to see in the revival show. That said, Bulldog does at least hit his old gong, blow his whistle, and deliver his “This stinks, this is total BS,” catchphrase. So, while the episode as a whole feels like a missed opportunity, we at least know that Bulldog has evolved to become a more progressive character and also hasn’t changed a bit.